Antioxidant Properties and Chemical Composition Relationship of Europeans and Brazilians Propolis

The antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of propolis, bee glue, of various climate and orographic characteristics, collected from Italy, Brazil and Russia, was evaluated measuring their inhibitory action on peroxidation of linoleic acid, radical scavenging ability towards 2,2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, total phenolic content and reducing capacity by enzymatic and Folin method respectively. Propolis samples were chemically characterized by HPLC-MS/MS in order to find a possible correlation between antioxidant activity and polyphenols composition and quantification. The results obtained indicate that Italian and Russian propolis samples have similar polyphenolic composition and, as a consequence, almost similar antioxidant activity, while Brazilian propolis evidence lower polyphenolic and antioxidant characteristics. Climate and orography reasons of these differences are also suggested.